"Soon-to-be married men who want a 'problem-free' love life should avoid sex counselling," advises this story from Australia, based on a study of 71 couples.

The study, published in the CSIRO journal Sexual Health examined the reports of sexual satisfaction from 36 couples who had undergone counseling sessions and 35 who had not. They found that premarital counseling raises the number of women who report having a "problem-free" sex life, but lowers the number of men.

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Of the women, 81% who attended the sessions said they had a "problem-free sex life" while only 77% of the non-counseled ladies said the same. The disparity is greater for the men: 71% of the men who went with counseling said they had perfect, but 64% who had counseling made that claim. While the study does not offer any possible explanations why men reported better sex without counseling, we have one idea: Maybe they just didn't know. It seems possible that, prior to counseling, some of the men could have been unaware of their partner's dissatisfaction, thus leading them to assume they were problem-free.

Whatever the cause of this disparity, researchers still advise couples to undergo premarital counseling:

"A recommendation to encourage engaged couples to attend premarital sexual counselling is made based on the findings," the research found.

"It is thought that an intervention plan ... will help nurses guide recently-married couples to greater sexual satisfaction."